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VOL 14, ISSUE 2 MAR / APR 2015 $7.97 US / $10.97 CAN
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CONTENTS
PERSPECTIVES 5 LEADOFF Be Better Susan Sly “As long as you have skills, you will never be without a job.” This was the constant message my dad taught me throughout my youth. Little did I know it would lead me to a career in network marketing. 6
OUR TIMES – PART 1 How does network marketing make you better? • Doug Firebaugh, Release Your Power • Robin Mascari, Our Deepest Need • Gene Adigu, How Network Marketing Made Me… • Kimber King, My Heart’s Desire • Mark Ferreira, The Path of Personal Excellence • Dee Hutchins, What Are You Reading for Yourself? • Ray Higdon, Having Money and Time to Share
FEATURES 20
LEAD INTERVIEW Better Together Richard Bliss Brooke is a veteran of the network marketing profession. He is the author of Mach II and The Four Year Career®. He also owns Bliss Business, a coaching, seminar, tools, and training business for network marketers worldwide. Kimmy Brooke started a network marketing business from her home in Hawaii five years ago. A struggling single mom, she found her path to financial freedom and has never looked back. Now joined as one, Kimmy and Richard believe the best is yet to come, because together they can accomplish and contribute even more to the profession than either of them could alone.
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MASTER NETWORKER Fishing for Friendships Based in Lousiana, Angel Fletcher is a dynamic mom of four who leads a fast growing network marketing organization. Just four years ago, she left her alcoholic husband and fled with her children, surviving on food stamps and welfare. Her youngest daughter was suffering from a debilitating health condition the doctors had no solution for. When Angel found network marketing, her whole life turned around. Her daughter quickly regained her health, and just by sharing her story on social media, Angel was able to attract others into the business.
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CONTENTS
FEATURES 38
MASTER NETWORKER Yoked in Partnership Based in Texas, Sam and Kim Bean are stay-at-home parents who lead a growing network marketing organization with over 70,000 distributors and customers in 20 countries. Kim’s parents are Vietnamese immigrants who worked hard to make ends meet. Sam’s mom relied on government assistance and was a substitute teacher when there were openings. Just six years ago the Beans were struggling to keep their house and cars. Today they enjoy being able to take several dream vacations each year, as well as to give generously to the charities of their choice.
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MASTER NETWORKER Stay Humble and Hungry Adam Green is one of the youngest network marketing leaders in North America today. Based in Alberta, Canada, he joined his parents’ business as a product user at age 18. In his early twenties he started building a team of his own and surpassed his parents’ rank in the compensation plan just three years after he began building the business full time. Today he leads a growing organization spanning 24 countries on five continents. He has become a sought-after international speaker who provides inspiration and motivation for all age groups.
RESOURCES
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OUR TIMES – PART 2 How does network marketing make you better? (Continued) • Tara Cooper, A Better Me = A Better We • Jeff Combs, A Complete Education • John Neustadt, What Network Marketing Taught My Wife • Romi Neustadt, What Network Marketing Taught My Husband • Roanne Bacchus, Rising to the Challenge • Sean Escobar, “Once You Have Tasted Flight…” • Janine Finney, Focus on What You Want • Evan Klassen, Standing on Solid Ground
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THE CLOSE The Joy Never Ends Margie Aliprandi In this extraordinary profession, you can’t succeed unless you help others. To do that, you’ll be constantly growing yourself. If you continue this journey and keep an open heart, you’ll find that every area of your life expands. Networking Times
LEAD INTERVIEW
Better
Together 20
Networking Times
A Life of Pure Love, Bliss, and Partnership
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ife is full of surprises. Network marketing icon Richard Bliss Brooke and top earner Kimmy Everett are a testament to this. On a sunny December day, in Honolulu, Hawaii, Kimmy got the surprise of a lifetime… and it all happened in the span of a single hour. At 4:30 p.m., she was soaking up some rays in her backyard. At 5 p.m., Richard asked her to be his wife as they arrived at Kimmy’s mom’s house for what she thought was a simple dinner. Instead, she was greeted by loved ones, a bouquet of white tulips, and romantic guitar music. At 5:30 p.m., the couple said, “I do” to Hawaiian vows overlooking the Pacific. There hadn’t been time for Kimmy to think about hair, makeup, a guest list, or a flowing white dress. It was perfect. Magical. Kimmy had married her prince charming. For Richard, he not only married the love of his life, but he also became a father to Kimmy’s daughter, Hailey, a role he honors. Their fairytale began when Richard and Kimmy met at Art Jonak’s Mastermind event in 2012. Kimmy had personally exemplified the process outlined in Richard’s bestselling recruitment book, The Four Year Career® and the two hit it off. They met again the next year while both were speaking at a Sonia Stringer’s Believe event in 2013, and from there, Kimmy participated in Richard’s Vision workshop, which resulted in a professional coaching relationship. Phone calls soon went from once a week to once a day to nonstop talking. They really got to know each other, and as fate would have it, they fell deeply in love. Individually, Kimmy and Richard have both enjoyed much success in their careers. Richard is a 38-year veteran of network marketing who went from chicken chopper to multimillionaire to
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CEO of a successful network marketing company, all by the age of 37. He’s a senior member of the DSA Ethics Committee, a world-renowned speaker, coach, author and the man who brought you the unforgettable viral series Super MLM Man. Five years ago, Kimmy was a struggling single mother. She worked 60 hours a week only to find herself sinking further into debt. She found her path to financial freedom through network marketing. By going full speed ahead in the process of building her own 4-year career, Kimmy quickly created a network of 20,000 members and has never looked back. Now joined as one, Kimmy and Richard believe the best is yet to come. Together, they are committed to building an extraordinary network marketing company. Their vision is a role model company for inspiring the profession to do it right. Richard’s decades of experience and mastery of network marketing as an art combined with Kimmy’s enthusiasm, spirit, and “have fun while you build” approach creates a powerful synergy. In addition to building their own network marketing company, Richard and Kimmy have been honored to support many top leaders in other companies through Bliss Business, their coaching and leadership retreat business. Bliss Business also provides a wealth of proven recruitment tools, generic for any company, including Richard’s bestselling The Four Year Career book, widely known as one of the best “first look” prospecting tools. Richard and Kimmy’s vision is to inspire and educate network marketing leaders to promote, prospect, enroll, and lead in such a way as to create trust, admiration, and respect, and “leave our market place... a better place than we found it.”
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MASTER NETWORKER
FISHING
for
FRIENDSHIPS Angel Fletcher:
Be a Connector of People By Dr. Josephine Gross 30
Networking Networking Times Times
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ased in Slidell, Lousiana, Angel Fletcher is a dynamic mom of four who leads a fast growing network marketing organization in the U.S. and Canada. Just four years ago, she left her alcoholic husband and fled with her children, surviving on food stamps and welfare. To make matters worse, her youngest daughter was suffering from a debilitating health condition the doctors had no solution for. “History repeated itself,” says Angel. “I grew up in an alcoholic family and for the majority of my life watched my mother struggle as the soul breadwinner. But she was also my rock and my inspiration, because she never gave up and believed that if we dedicate ourselves to nurturing and uplifting others, we always get rewarded in the end.” When Angel found network marketing, her whole life turned around. Her daughter quickly regained her health and vitality, and just by sharing her story on social media, Angel was able to attract others into the business. As her financial situation improved, she inspired even more followers, and her team started growing exponentially. With a growing passion for helping others, Angel reached the top of her company in less than a year. Today Angel’s daughter is healthy and happy, living a life most teenagers only dream of. She loves traveling the country with her mother, meeting new people every day whose lives her mother is helping to change. Angel’s other three children have also been “bitten by the network marketing bug. “All my children build a business by sharing our story,” says Angel. “Some of them are in different companies because they are passionate about different products. Through our struggles, they learned that we can rewrite our story and change it we choose to. I couldn’t be more grateful for the doors network marketing has opened for them.”—J.G.
Tell us a little about your background. In 2011 I was living in a small town outside of Gainesville, Florida where I had spent most of my life. I had married very young and raised three children, then remarried and had a fourth child. My second husband was an alcoholic. Our daughter who was twelve at the time was very ill. The doctors didn’t have any answers and finally just prescribed a little pill that was going to magically fix her. When it didn’t, I reverted to an old habit of blaming myself and decided my daughter’s health issues were my fault, because I allowed her to live in a home with alcoholism. One day in July 2011 I woke up and said, “I can’t do this anymore.” I made a decision, packed three of my children and myself one suitcase
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each, and we left everything. We had very little money and no plan. I just knew that in order to find joy and peace in our lives, we needed to put as much distance as possible between the life we were living and the life we wanted. We drove 3,000 miles across the country and settled in a place called Lewiston, Idaho. We found a government apartment, applied for food stamps and welfare, and then I went on a mission to find a new job. “How long have you lived here?” people would ask. “Two days,” was my answer. “What brought you here?” When I shared my story, they thought I was crazy. When you have no stability, finding a job can be a real challenge. For the first year we lived of the welfare system. Once a week we drove
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MASTER NETWORKER
Yoked in Partnership
Sam and Kim Bean: The Thrill of Impacting Lives By Dr. Josephine Gross 38
Networking Times
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ased in Houston, Texas, Sam and Kim Bean are stay-at-home parents who lead a growing network marketing organization with over 70,000 distributors and customers in 20 countries to date. The Beans attribute their extraordinary success to the mentorship and inspiration they received from their company’s VP of Sales Holton Buggs. Both Sam and Kim are driven by a desire to raise their children in a different environment than the one they grew up in. Kim’s parents are Vietnamese immigrants who worked hard to make ends meet. Sam’s mom relied on government assistance and was a substitute teacher when there were openings. At the age of eight, Sam would cut lawns, wash cars, and recycle cans to help support his family. He wore second-hand clothing and often didn’t have enough money to play sports. Today, because of network marketing, the Beans’ young sons attend a Montessori school, take Tae Kwon Do, play in several sports leagues, and are being groomed as young businessmen. The Bean family remembers not having enough money for gifts on birthdays, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Mother’s or Father’s Day. “Now,” they say, “every day is a holiday!” Just six years ago the Beans were struggling to keep their house and cars. Today they enjoy being able to go on two or three dream vacations each year, as well as to give generously to the charities of their choice. “After hiding our cars from the creditors in the ‘witness protection program,’ we now drive beautiful vehicles that are paid for in cash—the one-payment plan,” says Sam. “The home we were about to lose is paid off, and we are working on acquiring our second home. This isn’t bragging; I simply want people to know that this business was created for people like us, and people like them, and that if we can do it, so can they.”—J.G.
When did you join your first company? Sam: In 1996 I’d just come home from the military. I was a veteran from the Desert Storm era. I needed something to do in transition. While I was dabbling in real estate I watched an infomercial for a nutritional company at 3:00 in the morning. I saw an opportunity to be what I’ve always wanted to be: a business owner. What attracted me was a turnkey system and the flexibility to work from home. I had no idea what network marketing was at the time. I called the toll-free number and was assigned an upline in Iowa, even though I was living in Houston. I never met the person; we just talked over the phone, which was a challenge. I went to the events, got excited, and sold some product, but I never really built a team. In fact, in that company I never sponsored one person. All I ever did was take the products and purchase motivational books and tapes. In 1997 I transitioned to my first major network marketing company, which sold legal
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services. Surrounded by people who could help me develop and grow, I really got excited. In my first 60 days I sponsored 28 people. Within two years we built a team that generated some financial results, but the system was flawed in Texas, because we had to be licensed to do it, and not everyone could pass the test. This put a cap on how quickly we were able to move forward. I was doing it full time so I encountered some financial difficulties, which led me back to the workforce in 1998. I worked in corporate recovery for American Express for five years, helping people get their finances together and reestablish their credit. The skills I learned through network marketing helped me a great deal. I found myself working early hours when everybody else was on their way in, and staying late after everyone went home. The personal development allowed me to progress much faster than my colleagues because the company was able to rely on me.
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MASTER NETWORKER
Stay Humble and Hungry Adam Green:
A Growing Family Business By Dr. Josephine Gross
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Networking Times
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t 25 years old, Adam Green is one of the youngest network marketing leaders in North America today. Based in Alberta, Canada, Adam is a top earner for his company, promoting natural health and wellness through the use of essential oils. Adam initially joined his parents’ business as a product user at age 18. In his early twenties he started building a team of his own and became his company’s youngest Royal Crown Diamond in November 2014. Passionate about empowering others with physical and financial wellness, he started speaking at his company’s annual convention in 2010 and has spoken from that stage each subsequent year. Adam surpassed his parents’ rank in the compensation plan just three years after he began building the business full time. Today he leads a growing organization spanning 24 countries on 5 continents. He has become a highly sought-after international speaker who provides inspiration and motivation for all age groups. Determined to remain humble and hungry, Adam is grateful for all the blessings the business has brought him so far, and committed to paying it forward by empowering others, especially the young generation, to achieve their goals and dreams—J.G.
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When and how did you decide to build a network marketing business? For the longest time I didn’t see the income opportunity as something I would do, even though my parents have been distributors with my company for 15 years now. My mom is a physiotherapist and acupuncturist, so I assumed I had to be a wellness practitioner to be successful in the business. I had no concept of how or why it worked, so I didn’t pursue it, until I was invited to a business opportunity presentation by one of my high school friends. This friend had told me about a new business he wanted me to take a look at. I drove an hour and a half to an opportunity meeting at some person’s house and essentially had the circles drawn for me. This was the first time I was totally open to taking a look at the business opportunity. As children, we don’t always listen to our parents. When the business model was explained to me, I became excited about the idea of leveraged income, being my own boss, and having financial and time freedom. I continued to explore this company’s compensation plan and product line, but couldn’t get excited about the products. This was my first lesson in the business: you have to be passionate about the product or service you’re offering. If your company’s product is not something you can use, recommend, and invite people to take a look at without reservation, then you’ll probably not be successful at building a business with it. I didn’t sign up with that company, but the exposure spurred me to check out a few other companies, because the business model made sense to me. Finally, my parents kind of cornered me and they said, “You’re excited about network marketing. The products you’ve been using since you were a child are sold using this distribution model. You’ve already recommended them to others without knowing anything about the income opportunity. Why don’t you consider joining our business?”
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PRESENTS
The Most Powerful Recruiting Tool in Network Marketing History!
This documentary gathers today’s foremost experts and thought leaders to forever change how you view work and wealth. Featuring Jordan Adler, John Assaraf, Kody Bateman, Chris Brogan, Richard Bliss Brooke, Ali Brown, Les Brown, Jack Canfield, Harry S. Dent, Jr., Dr. Linda Ferrell, Dr. OC Ferrell, Mark Victor Hansen, Kevin Harrington, Kim Kiyosaki, Robert Kiyosaki, Joseph N. Mariano, Dr. Ivan Misner, Paul Zane Pilzer, Bob Proctor, Susan Sly, Loren Slocum, Kevin Thompson, Brian Tracy, Eric Worre, and Sandra Yancey.
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Visit www.NetworkingTimes.com/Rise or call 866-343-4005 (int’l 818 727 2000) Networking Times
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